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JUNE 2025 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 39 • IPC-1783/IPC-1783-CO2e: ese emerging standards focus on environmental com- pliance and carbon emissions reporting. CFX provides a consistent, validated mech- anism for capturing energy usage and material move- ment events that factor into CO2e calculations. • IPC-2592: is new standard will establish the framework and requirements for a Dig- ital Credential Exchange to enable a validated and secure supply chain. CFX would be a key player in this environ- ment by providing a real- time flow of standardized data. Together, these standards cre- ate a powerful digital founda- tion—enabling design, produc- tion, traceability, analytics, and sustainability reporting to be tied together using a shared data eco- system. Whether your organization is leading the charge on digital transformation or just getting started, your voice matters. Now is the time to get involved. Help influence what comes next by joining the IPC-CFX Task Group or any of IPC's digital standards committees . SMT007 Chris Jorgensen is the senior director of next- generation stan- dards at IPC. Contact Chris here. Cost, technical performance, and environmental impact are the three most important aspects for a new type of LED technol- ogy to have a broad commercial impact on society. Researchers at Linköping University demonstrated this in a study published in Nature Sustainability. "Perovskite LEDs are cheaper and easier to manufacture than traditional LEDs. I'd say that this is the next generation of LED technology," says Feng Gao, professor of optoelectronics at Linköping University. For a technological shift to take place, where today's LEDs are replaced with those based on the material perovskite, more than just technical performance is required. Feng Gao's research group has collaborated with Professor Olof Hjelm and John Laurence Esguerra, assistant professor at LiU. They specialise in how innovations contrib- uting to environmental sustainability can be in- troduced to the market. Together, they have in- vestigated the environ- mental impact and cost of 18 different perovskite LEDs, knowledge that is currently incomplete. The study was conducted using so-called life cycle assessment and techno-economic assessment. "Things get more complicated when you take recycling into account. But here we show that it's most important to think about the reuse of organic solvents and how raw materials are produced, especially if they are rare materials," says Olof Hjelm. One example where the life cycle analysis provides guid- ance concerns the small amount of toxic lead necessary for the perovskites to be effective. But, according to Olof Hjelm, focus- ing only on lead is a mistake. There are also many other materi- als in LEDs, such as gold. "Gold production is extremely toxic. There are byproducts such as mercury and cyanide. It's also very energy-consuming," he says. The greatest environmental gain would be achieved by replac- ing gold with copper, aluminium or nickel, while maintaining the small amount of lead needed for the LED to function optimally. The researchers have concluded that perovskite LEDs may re- place today's LEDs, thanks to lower costs and less environmen- tal impact. The big issue is longevity. Researchers believe that it needs to reach about 10,000 hours for a positive environmental impact, something they think is achievable. (Source: Linköping University) Next-generation LEDs are Cheap and Sustainable